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RUSSIAN SCIENTISTS FINALLY REACH LAKE VOSTOK, A 1-MILLION YR OLD SUBGLACIAL LAKE UNDER THE ANTARCTIC ICE CAP, AFTER 20 YRS OF DRILLING

A man stands near drilling apparatus at the Vostok research camp in Antarctica (Click Image To Enlarge)

After drilling into Lake Vostok for over two decades, Russian scientists have confirmed that they reached the mysterious freshwater lake that was sealed beneath over two miles of Antarctic ice.

 

After decades of drilling, Russian scientists in the arctic have uncovered a rare piece of nature, an ancient lake buried thousands of feet under the ice. RT's Sean Thomas, toured the frozen continent exactly a year ago, and now explains what this discovery could mean.

Beneath the vast white landscape, Lake Vostok is the deepest and most isolated of Antarctica's subglacial lakes. Its size compares to Siberia's Lake Baikal or one of the Great Lakes, increasing the chance of biodiversity in its waters. Scientists estimate the body of water is roughly 1 million years old and supersaturated with oxygen, resembling no other known environment on Earth. John Priscu of Montana State University suspects that an oasis of life may lurk there, teeming around thermal vents.

A radar satellite image of the ice over Lake Vostok, a freshwater lake with a surface area of 14,000 square kilometres, that is under 4 kilometres of ice (Click Image To Enlarge)

Although reports on Lake Vostok came in Monday, the feat was not confirmed for two days. The Associated Press wrote Wednesday morning that according to a statement by Russia's Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, its team reached Lake Vostok on Sunday.

Russian news source RT reports that the scientists were able to retrieve 40 liters of water from Lake Vostok which they are taking home in sterile containers to test.

Cross-section drawing showing the location of Lake Vostok, 2.2 miles below the Anarctic Ice Cap (Click Image To Enlarge)

Lake Vostok, which hasn't been touched by light in millions of years, has been a target of scientific exploration because of the unique lifeforms it may contain.

AP writes,

"The discovery has been avidly anticipated by scientists around the world, who hope that the lake, comparable in area to Lake Ontario, may contain microbial life and provide a clue in the search for life on other planets in similar conditions."

Click Image To Enlarge

According to Wired, Lake Vostok likely contains 50 times the amount of oxygen found in a typical freshwater lake. The conditions in the lake "are thought to be similar" to Jupiter's moon Europa and Saturn's Enceladus.

Despite the excitement surrounding the Russians' accomplishment, the project was not without environmental fears. The Washington Post explained that concerns exist that Lake Vostok "could be contaminated by the kerosene, Freon and other materials being used in the drilling."

AP reports,

"Russian researchers have argued that the water from the lake would rush up the borehole driven by a jump in pressure, safely sealing pollutants."

Russia's RT writes that drilling liquids did not enter Lake Vostok. They explained,

"The lake water, rising up to 40 meters due to under-pressure in the crack, pushed the drilling liquid back onto the surface."

Russian scientists pose for group photo after their drill hole successfully reached Lake Vostok on February 5, 2012 (Click Image To Enlarge)

Even with the concerns, the Russians' accomplishment at Lake Vostok has excited the scientific community. John Priscu, an Antarctic specialist at Montana State University, told The Washington Post,

"If they were successful, their efforts will transform the way we do science in Antarctica and provide us with an entirely new view of what exists under the vast Antarctic ice sheet."

The Russian operation is also significant because of the surface conditions which the scientists endured. The area above Lake Vostok is one of the most inhospitable places on Earth. The lowest ever temperature on Earth, negative 128 degrees Fahrenheit (-82 C) was recorded there in 1983, according to the BBC.

In comparison, the temperature outside a commercial jetliner at a cruising altitude of around 35,000 feet is only about negative 69 degrees Fahrenheit.

COMMENTARY:   This is an incredible feat and if the Russians are able to successfully retrieve water from Lake Vostok after all these millions of years, and discover living microbes, sea life or other forms of life, the 20 years they spent drilling, would all be worth it.  We could end up discovering new species of life that existed in prehistoric times before Man walked on Earth.   

But Russia must wait for the Antarctic summer to collect and study water samples, leaving the door open for U.S. and British missions to explore two other subglacial lakes and beat it to be the first to answer the question of whether life exists under the polar ice. Martin Siegert, head of the University of Edinburgh's School of Geosciences, said. 

"This is scientific exploration, this is work that no one has ever done before.  This is probably one of the last frontiers on our planet that remains largely unknown to us."

Siegert is leading a British expedition to explore Lake Ellsworth in West Antarctica in 2012-2013.

The British camp at the Lake Ellsworth drilling site as a team of British engineers have completed the first phase of a project to explore an ancient subglacial lake buried 1.8 miles beneath the ice in Antarctica (Click Image To Enlarge)

There's obvious cause for concern by British and American scientists that the Russians may release living microbes that may be harmful or dangerous to Man.  Let's hope that the Russians don't fuck this up.

 Courtesy of an article dated February 8, 2012 appearing in Huffington Post Green and an article dated February 9, 2012 appearing in The Guardian

THE WORLD'S DEEPEST DIVING MARINE MAMMALS AND HOW THEY ARE ABLE TO SURVIVE SUCH DEEP DIVES

Beaked whales represent a family of toothed cetaceans (so more related to dolphins than to true whales) amongst the least known mammalian family. They measure between 3,4 to 12 m length and weigh 1 to 15 tones. 

They live in deep sea only and feed on sea floor by suction feeding, without using their teeth (which are in fact deeply reduced in number and size). They are known to perform long divings, but their remote habitat impedes scientists to achieve much information about their biology. 

An international team studying diving capacity of two beaked whales species, Cuvier's beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris) (photo above) and Blainville's beaked whale (Mesoplodon densirostris) (image bellow), discovered that these species achieve the deepest and longest dives of any air-breathing species.

Source:LiveScience  

Scientists were intrigued, because beaked whales stranded during naval sonar exercises presented symptoms of decompression sickness. The team wanted to see if the wales' extreme dives put them at risk from naval sonar exercises. Researchers used digital archival tag (D-tag), about the size of a sandal, which have a variety of recording sensors for sounds and movements, and is attached to the animals with four small suction cups using a pole. Says Dr. Peter Tyack from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) about the D-tags released from the animals,

"These two beaked whale species make long, very deep dives to find food, and then make shallow dives and rest near the surface. By contrast, sperm whales and elephant seals can make a series of deep dives without the need for prolonged intervals between deep dives. We think that beaked whales return to the surface after deep dives with an oxygen debt and need to recover before their next deep dive." 

The analysis would indicate that beaked whales' deep diving does not provoke decompression symptoms.  Says Dr. Tyack,

"Rather, it appears that their greatest risk of decompression sickness would stem from an atypical behavioral response involving repeated dives at depths between 30 and 80 meters (roughly 100 to 250 feet).   The reason for this is that once the lungs have collapsed under pressure, gas does not diffuse from the lungs into the blood. Lung collapse is thought to occur shallower than 100 meters (330 feet), so deeper parts of the dive do not increase the risk of decompression problems. However, if beaked whales responded to sonars with repeated dives to near 50 meters (165 feet), this could pose a risk."

The Cuvier's beaked whales were tagged in the Ligurian Sea off Italy, while the Blainville's beaked whales were tagged off the Canary Islands in deep water, between 700 and 2,000 meters (2,300 to 6,500 feet) with steep bottom topography.  Said Dr. Tyack,

"Shallow dives seem to be performed between deep dives, and both species dive very deep to hunt for prey. They seem to spend equal time ascending and descending in shallow dives, but take longer to ascend from deep dives.  Avoidance of decompression problems by slow ascent, as in scuba divers, cannot account for this behavior if the lungs of these breathhold diving marine mammals are collapsed at depths greater than 100 meters (330 feet)."

Beaked whales are very little known because they spend little time at the surface and are difficult to tag. The better studied sperm whale can dive for more than one hour to depths greater than 1,200 meters (roughly 4,000 feet), with average dives of 45 minutes to depths of 600-1,000 meters (1,968 to 3,280 feet). 

Elephant seals can spend up to two hours in depths over 1,500 meters (nearly 5,000 feet), but average dives last only 25-30 minutes to depths of about 500 meters (1,640 feet). 

Cuvier's beaked whales dove to maximum depths of nearly 1,900 meters (about 6,230 feet) with a maximum duration of 85 minutes, while the Blainville's dove to a maximum depth of 1,250 meters (4,100 feet) and 57 minutes in duration. So, the Cuvier's beaked whale holds the record for the deepest dive confirmed of any air-breathing animal. 

But the average of the deep foraging dives describes best the diving capacity of a species. 

The average foraging dive for Cuvier's beaked whale went to a depth of 1,070 meters (about 3,500 feet) with a duration of 58 minutes, while the Blainville's beaked whales dove to an average depth of 835 meters (2,740 feet) and 46.5 minutes in duration. 

These represent the deepest and longest average dives reported for any air breathing diving animal. Regular echolocation clicks, buzzes and echoes of what appears to be prey were recorded on the tags, suggesting the whales were hunting for food on the deep dives. As these beaked whale species are reported to mass strand during naval sonar exercises in the area, scientists want to decode how the whales respond to the sonar sounds and which way the sonars increase the risk of stranding them. "No matter what the precise cause of the strandings is, we need to develop effective mitigation strategies to reduce the accidental exposure of beaked whales to bay sonar," Tyack said.

COMMENTARY:   I knew that whales could dive very deep, but diving over a mile in the ocean is incredible.  Just think about the pressures.  I love dolphins, because they are so intelligent and friendly creatures.  While in the Navy, they would swim right along the bow of my ship.  They seemed to be enjoying themselves.  

These sea mammals make us humans pale by comparison.  William Trubridge is the world record no-fin diving champion, setting a record 331 feet dive while holding his breath.   Click the above link to view some incredible pictures and a video of his record shattering dive.  It's such a thing of beauty.

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) is quite an organization and treasure chest of information about the ocean and its creatures.  If you have children, I highly recommend it.

Courtesy of an article dated October 20, 2006 appearing in Softpedia